Agroecological Zones Simulator (AZS) : A component based, open-access, transparent platform for climate change - crop productivity impact assessment in Latin America

The Agro-ecological Zones Simulator (AZS) is a platform for data and models sharing for scientists and policy makers, facilitating the analysis of climate change impacts and the identification of possible response strategies through a comprehensive regional-level analysis comprised of: (i) Geo-referenced climate, soil and terrain data, combined into a land resources database;(ii) Crop suitability assessment and land productivity of cropping systems; (iii) Procedures for calculating the potential agronomically attainable yield; (iv) Procedures for computing actual yields as limited by water availability and management, biotic and abiotic factors; and (v) Selected agricultural production systems with defined input and management relationships, crop-specific environmental requirements and adaptability characteristics. The software core of the platform is given by an instance of the BioMA platform. The platform facilitates the evaluation of the impacts of projected changes in temperature, precipitation and evaporative demands on crop growth and function, including investigations of adaptation potentials by means of management optimization and use of available or improved crop varieties. Simulations are performed using modelling solutions based on extensible, multi-model components for crop growth and development, soil water dynamics, biotic (e.g., diseases) and abiotic (e.g., ozone concentration, frost events) stressors, hourly and daily weather variable generation, automatic management practices, and with a generic component implementing different approaches for crop suitability. The inclusion of biotic and abiotic factors in modelling solutions allows for explicit computations of changing pressures on crops under a changing climate, increasing the realism of the modeled systems. AZS is currently operational for Latin America and Caribe; it was recently used by the World Bank's Agriculture and Rural Development of Latin America for the analysis of climate change impacts on four major crops: wheat, maize, rice and soybean. The results of those simulations and analysis are presented as a first application of the AZS platform.,